Fasting and happiness
We constantly seek happiness. What pleasure we seek is our choice. We seek what we think will bring us happiness. But in reality, even the worshippers of the life of this world get lost in things that are unimportant, even by their own standards. Their dilemma too is the same: Most non-believers spend their life doing what they themselves do not really value. It is a pity, of course, that their very goals are vain and worthless—for, those who know not their God, know not themselves. Allah Says what means: “The example of those who disbelieve in their Lord is [that] their deeds are like ashes which the wind blows forcefully on a stormy day; they are unable [to keep] from what they earned a [single] thing. That is what is extreme error.” [Quran 14:18]
But how incomparably more foolish it is for the believer to lose sight of his aim, for he knows how magnificent is the Lord Who Watches over him, how great the reward, and how terrible the punishment. Yet believers forget—even the best of them because belief is not a fixture: Faith increases and decreases, and even disappears completely. This is why most of us humans, believers or not, are lost in seeking pleasures of the physical body, happiness by this-worldly calculations. We are deluded to think that gratifying our senses will make us happy. Our twin enemies, Satan and our unrestrained desire—whose evil perhaps dazzles even Satan at times—both work incessantly to make us believe in a con. Allah Almighty Says what means: “Satan promises them and arouses desire in them. But Satan does not promise them except delusion.” [Quran 4:120]
Yet, the human condition is a testimony, if looked at with the eye of reflection, to the fact that most men and women are unhappy. The reason is that they do not realize that the happiness they seek day and night is not the happiness of their physical body, but of their soul, their heart, the opening of both. Allah Says what means: “And whoever turns away from My remembrance – indeed, he will have a depressed life, and We will gather him on the Day of Resurrection blind.” [Quran 20:124]
But here is the difference between Muslims—those who submit to Allah and those who do not: We know where to turn to, and how. We acknowledge our weakness and ask Allah for help. And Allah gives us knowledge, faith, and grace, by which He Almighty allows us to overcome our lower selves. When the angels wondered at the hour of our creation as Allah Says what means: “And [mention, O Muhammad] when your Lord said to the angels, 'Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority.' They said, 'Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we declare Your praise and sanctify You?' Allah Said, 'Indeed, I know that which you do not know.'" [Quran 2:30] Allah, the Most Exalted and Wise, responded by teaching Aadam, may Allah exalt his mention, the names of all things, and showing the angels that the knowledge and reason Aadam and his progeny possess justify their placement on the earth as His deputies. The Quranic story of creation ends with the moral: “…And when guidance comes to you from Me, whoever follows My guidance – there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve..” [Quran 2:38] The Law Allah has sent us is that guidance—and it promises its believing followers: You shall have no fear nor any grief.
Fasting the month of Ramadan is Allah's Guidance to us. In fact, it is a special Divine gift to us – the gift of true happiness. It makes our physical desires weak so we might focus on what makes our hearts blissful. It is a practice crafted by Allah, the Perfect in Wisdom and Knowledge, in order to help us realize and attain what truly makes us happy. Yet we are unwilling, and ungrateful. Allah Says what means: “…And few of My servants are grateful.” [Quran 34:13]
Nevertheless, this most precious gift from Allah is wrapped and concealed in a wrapper, just like our gifts to each other. Out of His mercy, Allah has inscribed, right on the wrapper, the promises of the incalculable treasures contained inside the wrapper. It entices us to open the wrapper and to use the gift, but it does not force it upon us. What a tragedy, it is that most of us never unwrap this gift. We receive it, even read the accompanying promises and exhortations, but we do not unwrap it or use it. If we did, we would find the greatest of all gifts: The true bliss of the heart, which obtains when we find respite from the gratification of our animal selves. The Prophet testifies to this tragedy: "How many there are that fast but attain nothing from it except hunger and thirst!" [An-Nasaa’i and Haakim]
The gift of Allah that is contained inside is the gift of Taqwa - of being aware of the real truths beyond the facades of this-worldly delights and temptations. Allah Says what means: "O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous (attain Taqwa)," that is, that you may become ever God-conscious.
Taqwa is the gift of Itmi’naan, tranquility and bliss. Allah, the Most Compassionate, Says what means: “…Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah hearts are assured." [Quran 13:28]
But the cacophony of our physical desires is too loud and deafening to hear the sound of Allah’s Peace. Even when we mention Allah, our voices get buried in the demands and cares made by our limbs and senses. Fasting is Allah’s way to turn down that deafening volume and make us hear the true sound of happiness that we are after.
It is the gift of Allah’s unending reward. “Fasting is for Me and I alone shall reward it,” as He Almighty has told us in a SacredHadeeth. Few realize it, but the true happiness of this life is intricately connected with that of the eternal life. As Ibn Taymiyyah said: “There is a Paradise in this life. Those who do not enter it here, shall not enter it in the Hereafter." He meant the Paradise of Allah's nearness and love.
It is the gift of Allah's nearness. Fasting enables us to tear away the veneers of our animal desires. By this act, do we turn to Allah, and when we turn to Him, we can be certain of His response. Allah Says what means: “And when My servants ask you [O Muhammad] concerning Me – indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me….” [Quran 2:186]